p2pnet news | TV:- It’s OK for toddlers to watch “Arthur” and “Barney” (shudder).

But not OK are “Rugrats” and most definitely not “Power Rangers”.

So says the American Academy of Pediatrics, quoted by Associated Press.

This April, “TV-Turnoff Week begins Monday, a yearly effort to pry tens of millions of people away from the tube and into books, onto hiking trails or anywhere except a sofa facing a glowing screen,” said the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

But it’ll be tough, it went on, saying, “television is everywhere: 84 percent of American homes have at least two sets and the average child watches nearly 25 hours of programming a week, according to the National Institute on Media and Family.

“Plenty of parents still rely on ‘Sesame Street,’ ‘Blues Clues’ and Barney (shudder) to reinforce spelling and social skills.”

Also in April, 15 companies responsible for 90 per cent of advertising aimed at children promised to make half their ads, “more focused on healthy products and active living, said Canadian Press, going on:

“The companies, including McDonald’s and Coca-Cola, won’t face serious repercussions if they don’t live up to the commitment but they will be audited by Advertising Standards Canada.”

Now, “Children under 2 years old should not watch television, older children should not have television sets in their bedrooms and pediatricians should have parents fill out a ‘media history,’ along with a medical history, on office visits,” according to the AAP, says the New York Times.

And that was back in 1999.

With that ln mind, the academy is, “distributing to its members a sample ‘media history’ checklist for their young patients,” said the story. “It includes questions about movies, video and computer games, music videos and the Internet, as well as about the radio and books.

“Also available to the 55,000 members are brochures with suggestions about how to guide families toward positive uses of media, including critical discussion of what they watch.

“The academy suggests that televisions and computers not be kept in children’s bedrooms but in common rooms, where parents can monitor children’s use of them.”

Today, “Every hour per day that kids under 3 watched violent child-oriented entertainment their risk doubled for attention problems five years later, the study foundm” says AP, adding:

“Even nonviolent kids’ shows like “Rugrats” and “The Flintstones” carried a still substantial risk for attention problems, though slightly lower.

“On the other hand, educational shows, including “Arthur,” “Barney” and “Sesame Street” had no association with future attention problems.

“Interestingly, the risks only occurred in children younger than age 3, perhaps because that is a particularly crucial period of brain development. Those results echo a different study last month that suggested TV watching has less impact on older children’s behavior than on toddlers.”

Slashdot it!

Also See:
shudder – Barney, Coke and McDonalds, April 18, 2007
Associated Press – Kids under 3 should skip ‘Power Rangers’, November 5, 2007
Seattle Post-Intelligencer – Parents hold the remote control during TV-Turnoff Week, April 21, 2007
active living – Barney, Coke and McDonalds, April 18, 2007
New York Times – Pediatricians Suggest Limits On TV Viewing by Children, August 5, 1999.

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This entry was posted on Monday, November 5th, 2007 at 7:16 am and is filed under TV. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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